Sometimes it helps to think before reacting to things.

OK. the other day my sister had posted on facebook about how much the superintendent of her school system was making. and someone had responded about how greedy teachers are. of course.... they must all be making $150k like the superintendent. then my sister responded that all children should be required to be homeschooled and then everyone can be responsible for their own kids and we would not need to pay for school buses. i was really upset by what she said. I thought she was a democrat!! i responded by telling her how disappointed i am in her response. to which she asked why? but then I started thinking about it. When people start complaining, she comes up with some outlandish thing that would achieve what these folks wanted.... but that many of them didn't like the idea of. what about those of us who have to work!! I didn't give her enough credit. She is very smart. Which is probably why my wingnut family members won't ever mention political stuff with her. she will eviscerate them!!

I say this because I myself am terrible at dealing with wingnuts. I get so mad and it doesn't help me make an argument. I take things so personally. I just can't handle talking about politics with people. But they seem to LOVE to discuss it with me. I wish I were more like my sister.

TOday my aunt's husband posted in my aunt's facebook page (since he got rid of his account)



To which my sister replied:


I unfriended henry after he replied to a post I had written about my family with his political bs. I sent him a message telling him how inappropriate it was to poison my family posts with his garbage. If I had posted something political and he replied with it, then that would have been fine. But while I am friends with folks who post political stuff and I will reply to their posts, I rarely post poltical stuff on facebook as I use it mostly to keep in touch with my family and friends.

This post I am writing seems to be all over the place, but generally I was posting about the way we argue with people we disagree with. I know I suck at it. But there seems to be a great way to shut these guys down.... I have seen other posts on DU that have shown great ways to do this. And I would like to thank all of those who are great at confronting the lies. I wish I were better at it, and I do what I can, but I am so thankful for those who can get a clear message across. THank you all.

In my immediate family, everyone is on the same page, pretty much. But I know a few people who are no longer on talking terms with certain family members because of Facebook posts/flamewars.

sister's post about home schooling. Sarcasm is what I use. Even my nephews and nieces comment on my sarcasm, they laugh too. I know it's hard to be sarcastic, but give it a try. Sarcasm allows you to blow off steam, and often leaves the listener stunned and speechless. Which is what you want.

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And I think it's effective too. Oftentimes outrageous yet still plausibly authentic parody is the only way to get past the thick layer of know-nothingism that reactionaries coat themselves in.

I don't do the Facebook thing, but on the rare occasion when I can engage someone outside of my family in a political conversation, we always end up agreeing all too soon. The thing is, my Republican friends and colleagues agree with me when we define the problem(e.g., GE should not get away with paying no taxes, healthcare premiums are too high, we don't like Ben Bernanke,) we just fail to agree on the party that is most likely to solve the problems.

We always agree that both parties have fallen far short.